AusBonsai

Hi all, I recently put a fig of mine into a grow box of 50/50 5-7mm gravel and cow poo that decomposed down into soil. That came from an article i read somewhere, by V. Koreshoff i believe. The fig seemed to power through winter continuing to grow and sprout buds all over the shop. I'm looking at putting my trident maple in a box this w/e. I was thinking of using equal thirds of 5-7mm gravel, cow poo and potting mix. Wondering if that will suit the maple and if i should be adding blood and bone or anything like that?

Cheers,
Adam

I am not sure a maple will like that much fert - figs are gross feeders and will take up whatever you give them. The mixes I use for tridents in Brissy are either 2/3rds diatomite and 1/3rd zeolite or a good potting mix and a mix of diatomite/zeolite about equal. I use pelletised chook poo and chemical ferts that are as close to equal parts of NPK as I can get on them. And slowly build up on the amounts of fert starting very conservatively.

If it is cow poo then you should be ok but you may want to seive your pine well and to make sure that at least the poo is well composted and if you are making major cuts on the roots, use some grit or spaghnum moss so that you reduce the chance of infection. I use cow poo as a mulch/fert over summer. As a manure it is very soft (meaning it wont burn your plants like chook poo can) so it is fairly safe to use.

Some Maple experts may be able to shed some more light for you, I am only a few years old in my Maple adventure

Ok, thanks for your reply's guys. should i include slow release fert's or anything like that?

If you have it you can - I personally don't, never remember it when I mixing everything up